The Lunar Veil: Now departing Santo
The lights from the console blinked almost hypnotically, and Keller spent more than a moment watching them before his hand was drawn to one flashing red one in particular. It was quickly swatted by the pilot who gave him a stern warning look causing him to take a step back. He rationalized that he was the captain, but he in fact liked standing in that particular spot much better, so he wouldn’t bring it up. “Preflight check?” Riley, who was very much looking forward to the solitude of the flight deck asked, to which the Captain responded with his usual go-ahead hand motion. “Aye, Sir. Mechanic gave the greenlight. Supplies delivered and stowed, lift gate secured, airlock sealed, course is set, and we’re clear to take off. You can do your intercom thing.” “Didn’t we talk about how I don’t like when you make what I do sound unimportant?” “I don’t recall, Sir.” “Speaking of not recalling, I understand I offered Quart a job as a cabin boy?” “What can I say, Sir, you’re a nice guy,” she replied, checking a few more instruments without glancing his way. Riley cursed herself internally, generally he was blackout drunk enough that he just took her word for it, but they'd decidedly had a different conversation all together and it just figured it was the one thing he remained lucid for. Although they were alone, Riley lowered her tone and glanced as if to make sure. “Gill wanted to buy a ticket for him and his sister with a bunch of jewels and cash they boosted from somewhere that I care to know nothing about. I used the most of it to buy fuel for the ship, what’s left went into the kitty to be divided up with the crew.” “Buy tickets? I didn’t think they had anywhere to go?” Riley shrugged at his question, the universal I-don't-know gesture. “I wasn't going to charge him to go to Ezra, that’s for damn sure. No one wants to go to Ezra. I ain't even looking forward to going to Ezra. And sittin’ around on the ship being doted on like passengers won’t teach them to do anything useful planetside. Plus we allegedly have enough deckhands, Sir. I mean, at least Vas seems competent. La-Loyd is tits on a bull useless…” “But nice tits, and I may get to touch 'em,” the captain countered. “And I don’t even know how the pale skinny kid got on the ship. Being a deckhand is humping gear and scrubbing shit. I made up a Cabin Boy title and gave ‘em an easy job. Plus--” she eyed the drink he was swirling in his hand, “tending bar on this ship is pretty much a full time position.” The captain visibly thought it over. “I don’t think he likes it much.” “I don’t remember giving a shit about who likes what they’re assigned to do, Sir.” “I don’t think he likes you much.” “Definitely not part of my job description.” “Heard half-pint helped replace a part on the ship, saved us a bunch of hours.” “Aye Sir. I can make sure she’s assigned to the engine room if Deveron’s taken a shine to her. And her brother -- He can work his way up. No one in the ‘Verse is going to give them nothing for free except a hard time. Something to do on this ship’ll catch his eye. If he wants it, he’ll work for it.” “Anything else?” “No Sir. so, if you want? I’d like to get off this rock. Make your little announcement.” She held out microphone and slipped into her headset. “For rut’s sake, it’s important, people need to know the details of taking off and I give the orders around here.” He grabbed it from her hand with a scowl, and clicked on the mic. “Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking, the local time is 12:04 pm, and we’ll be taking off momentarily for the destination of Ezra where the temperature is…” He clicked off the mic and looked to Riley. “Hot as Rut.” “Sunny and warm, passengers can delight at the local sunrise and sunset, which due to the planet’s proximity to the sun will happen twice daily. We anticipate the trip taking -" "Long as Rut" "Quite some time so I encourage you to sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight.” Riley cleared her throat. The captain rolled his eyes this time, “except for crew, in which case, full 12 hour rotations are now in effect.” He clicked off the mic and set it back on the console. “I wish you’d stick to flying, let me stick to captaining…” He complained, skulking off the bridge. Riley chucked, flipping a few final switches before slipping the small tablet under her tongue and taking off into the black.